We propose a research program leading to an anatomical identification and electrophysiological characterization of a neural network mediating a complex behavioral response, the optomotor response, in flies and bees. Other authors have described this response quantitatively in terms of an input-output relationship. We have shown that it is possible to obtain intracellular recordings from cells in the visual pathway underlying this response. These are the only cells so far recorded in the fly or honeybee to which one can directly ascribe a behavioral function. We have stained some of these cells intracellularly for the purpose of an anatomical identification. Thus, a functional characterization and anatomical identification of this system from the sensory input to the motor output seems to be possible.